The following is a press release from the City of Longmont and is published by the Longmont Observer as a public service.

PC Magazine declared NextLight the fastest internet service provider in the country this morning, placing the community-owned internet provider at the top of its annual speed rankings.

The top spot had been held by Google Fiber in 2016 and 2017, which was knocked into second place this year by NextLight, Longmont’s fiber-optic network.

“Who could beat Google at its own game? NextLight, that’s who,” the magazine said in its 2018 ISP rankings. “There’s no denying small local players like this are the best hope we all have for seeing major gains in connectivity speed. … If you are choosing where to live in the U.S. based entirely on internet speed, consider buying or renting in Longmont.” Continue reading

The Internet is getting faster, according to the latest quarterly State of the Internet report from Akamai Technologies. Global connection speed increased 14 percent year over year, and as the IPv4 addressing space was recently depleted in North America, analysts recommend accelerating IPv6 adoption in the U.S. — now at 18 percent — to keep up the pace with leading adopters like Belgium, a nation that sees 35 percent of its connections occurring over IPv6.

While some areas of the world saw minor declines in broadband adoption, the overall trend still points toward strong growth, said David Belson, senior director of industry and data intelligence at Akamai Technologies and the report’s editor. Continue reading